Bobbin with tucked-in thread retainer



1967 R. A. SCHEWE 3,350,032

BOBBIN WITH TUCKED-IN THREAD RETAINER Filed Jan. 24, 1966 United States Patent 3,350,032 EOBBIN WITH TUCKED-IN THREAD RETAINER Richard A. Schewe, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Barber- Colman Company, Rockford, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 522,679 6 Claims. (Cl. 242-164) This invention relates to a bobbin on which a mass of thread is wound with a length at the trailing end extending upwardly to the nose or tip of the bobbin and tucked downwardly into the hole of the bobbin. With the loose thread thus positioned, the bobbin may be transported to a point of use as in a multiple winder or spooler and control of the thread achieved by a suction nozzle brought into alignment with or passed across the bobbin nose.

The general object is to provide on the nose of a bobbin a novel closure which permits inward tucking of the bobbin thread, maintain the position of the thread during handling of the bobbin but release the thread in response to a pressure differential directed outwardly from the bobbin.

A more detailed object is to close the end of the bobbin by a diaphragm which is slitted transversely of the bobbin nose and axially flexible to permit tuck-in of the bobbin thread, to grip and hold the thread when relaxed, and to release the thread in response to an outwardly directed pressure differential exerted on the diaphragm.

The invention also resides in the novel and simple construction and mounting of the diaphragm to achieve the foregoing objects.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a filled bobbin embodying the novel features of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top end view.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross-section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating the manner of releasing and removing the tucked-in thread.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the bobbin shown in FIG. 4.

The bobbin is shown of the ordinary paper tube type slightly tapered upwardly to the upper end or nose 11, The thread mass 12, as wound thereon in the operation of a conventional spinning frame, tapers upwardly toward and to a point short of the nose. For subsequent automatic handling of the bobbin and its thread, it is frequently desirable to extend an unwound length 13 of the trailing end portion of the thread upwardly past the nose and then laterally and tuck the loose end 14 downwardly into the bobbin hole 15 through a substantial length thereof. To effect such tuck-in, the thread may be drawn or pushed mechanically into the bobbin hole or it may be blown or sucked into the bobbin after being extended across the upper end of the hole.

When thus tucked into and definitely positioned relative to the bobbin, the thread may be picked up as by a suction nozzle 16 and brought under control for handling in subsequent automatic winder loading operations. Sometimes, during transportation of the bobbin, the tucked-in thread comes out of the bobbin hole and control thereof is thus lost. The present invention overcomes this difliculty by securing to the nose of the bobbin a member extending across the end of the hole 15 and adapted to permit tuck-in in the above manner and then grip and hold the thread securely but to release the thread when subjected on opposite sides to a pressure differential of relatively small magnitude.

Herein, the retaining member comprises a thin and very flexible disk or diaphragm 17 secured around its periphery to the nose of the bobbin and formed with one or more slits 18 extending across the bobbin hole and substantially closing the hole in the normal relaxed condition of the disk (FIGS. 1 and 2) but adapted to open somewhat when the disk is flexed axially and bulged into or out of the hole as shown in phantom in FIG. 3 or in full in FIGS. 4 and 5. Preferably, the disk is a thin sheet of an elastomer, such as neoprene rubber, plastic, etc. about .008 of an inch thick and may or may not be reinforced by fine fibers of nylon or the like. The disk may be secured to the bobbin nose in various ways such as by adhesive applied to the end surface of the bobbin nose. Alternatively, and as shown herein, the disk is the bottom of an inverted cup whose cylindrical side wall 19 is telescoped closely down over the bobbin end thus frictionally holding the disk securely in place in abutment with the bottom end.

Preferably, a substantial number, eight in the present instance, of the slits 18 are cut in the central part of the disk along radial lines angularly spaced around the disk and extending inwardly from near the disk periphery to a point of intersection substantially at the center of the disk. The latter is thus divided into eight V-shaped segments 20 each of which is supported cantilever fashion and is bendable freely along a chordal axis 21 and axially of the bobbin hole. In such bending, the apices 22 of the segments separate from each other and each slit is opened, the opposed defining edges 23 separating so as to release the thread previously extending through one of the slits and clamped between the edges of the slit while the latter is closed and the disk relaxed.

With the disk constructed as above described, the thread 13 may be tucked into the bobbin hole as by inserting a needle (not shown) axially and upwardly through the bobbin and the disk as permitted by outward bending of the segments 20 and then drawing the needle and the picked up thread backwardly through the disk and the bobbin. Or, while the thread is held adjacent and across the disk, the interior of the bobbin may be subjected to a vacuum sutlicient to bend the segments inwardly as shown in phantom in FIG. 3 and draw the thread into the bobbin through one of the slits thus opened. Then, when the vacuum is released, the segments, owing to the resiliency of the disk material, will bend back into a common plane as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the thread will remain gripped by the edges 23 of the slit which the thread enters during the tuck-in.

In spite of such-secure holding in the tucked-in position, the thread will be released and easily withdrawn from the bobbin and through the closure disk when the disk is subjected to an outwardly directed pressure dif ferential as by bringing a tubular nozzle 16 close to the disk and in axial alignment therewith as shown in FIG. 4 while the nozzle .is subjected to a vacuum. Under a relatively small vacuum, the segments 20 of the disk will be bent outwardly as shown thus opening the slits 18 to release the tucked-in thread and allowing the later to be sucked outwardly into and held by the nozzle as indicated at 24. The same action takes place when the pressure di fferential is produced by blowing air into the lower end and through the bobbin and outwardly through the disk.

I claim as my invention:

1. The comination of, a tubular bobbin having a mass of thread wound thereon with an unwound length of the thread extending upwardly and laterally across one side of the bobbin nose and then downwardly into the hole 0 in the bobbin, and an axially flexible and resilient member secured to said nose over said hole and having opposed edges gripping said thread but relatively movable to release the thread in response to an axial pressure differential directed outwardly from the bobbin.

2. The combination as defined in claim 1 in which said member is an axially flexible diaphragm of resilient material and said edges are those of a slit in the diaphragm extending transversely of said hole, substantially closed in the relaxed condition of the diaphragm, and adapted to be opened by axial flexing of the diaphragm.

3. The combination as defined in claim 1 in which said member is an axially flexible diaphragm having a plurality of slits therethrough extending across said hole and angularly spaced around the latter and opened by axial flexing of the diaphragm in either direction.

4. The combination of, a tubular bobbin adapted for the winding of a thread mass thereon, and an axially flexible diaphragm disk of resilient material secured around its periphery to one end of said tube for axial flexing into and out of the tube, said disk having therein a plurality of angularly spaced slits which are substantially closed in the relaxed condition of the diaphragm and opened in the axial flexing thereof.

5. The combination as defined in claim 4 in which said slits are disposed radially and intersect each other near the center of the disk whereby to divide the disk into a multiplicity of V-shaped segments with their apices projecting partially across the hole in said tube.

6. The combination as defined in claim 5 in which said segments substantially cover said hole in the relaxed condition of the disk.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 923,457 6/1909 Stimpson 139-257 X 971,541 10/1910 Koechlin 139-257 1,029,020 6/ 1912 Marazzi. 1,321,275 11/1919 Barrell 139-246 1,807,717 6/1931 Turner 139-257 1,855,814 4/1932 Zindel 242-18 3,257,083 6/1966 Furst. 3,279,712 10/1966 Furst 242-355 3,295,775 1/1967 Raasch et al. 242-355 STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner. 

1. THE COMINATION OF, A TUBULAR BOBBIN HAVING A MASS OF THREAD WOUND THEREON WITH AN UNWOUND LENGTH OF THE THREAD EXTENDING UPWARDLY AND LATERALLY ACROSS ON SIDE OF THE BOBBIN NOSE AND THEN DOWNWARDLY INTO THE HOLE IN THE BOBBIN, AND AN AXIALLY FLEXIBLE AND RESILINT MEMBER SECURED TO SAID NOSE OVER SAID HOLE AND HAVING OPPOSED EDGES GRIPPING SAID THREAD BUT RELATIVELY MOVABLE TO RELEASE THE THREAD IN RESPONSE TO AN AXIAL PRESSURE DIFFERENTIAL DIRECTED OUTWARDLY FROM THE BOBBION. 